Bulliet, Richard W. 1940- (Richard Williams Bulliet, Clarence J.-L. Jackson)

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Bulliet, Richard W. 1940- (Richard Williams Bulliet, Clarence J.-L. Jackson)

PERSONAL:

Born October 30, 1940, in Rockford, IL; son of Leander Jackson (an engineer) and Mildred (a physicist) Bulliet; married Lucianne Cherry (a Sanskritist), June 24, 1962. Education: Harvard University, B.A., 1962, M.A., 1964, Ph.D. 1967. Hobbies and other interests: Mystery writing, painting.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Office—Middle East Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027; fax: (212) 854-1413. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Historian, educator, and writer. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, instructor, 1967-69, assistant professor of Middle Eastern history, 1969-73; University of California, Berkeley, lecturer in Middle Eastern history, 1973-75; Columbia University, New York, NY, associate professor, 1976-78, professor of history, 1978—, associate chairman of the Department of History, 1979-82, 1983-85, director of the Middle East Institute, 1984-90, 1993-2000, chairman of the Department of Anthropology, 1988-1990, chairman of the Executive Committee of Arts and Sciences Faculty, 1998-99; also served on Columbia University Press publication committee 1979-85, 1986—, chairman 1991—, and member, board of trustees 1991—. Also served on the Joint Committee on the Near and Middle East of the Social Science Research Council and American Council of Learned Societies, 1978-81; Joint Committee on the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies of the Social Science Research Council and American Council of Learned Societies, 1988-91; World History Pathfinder Project of The College Board, 1991-93; and National Standards in World History committee of the National Center for the Study of History, 1992-93.

MEMBER:

Middle East Studies Association (executive secretary, 1977-81), Mediaeval Academy of America, Society for Iran Studies (board of directors, 1967-68), American Institute of Iranian Studies (trustee at large, 1977-82), Iranian Studies Association, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

NDFL fellowships (for Arabic and Turkish), 1962-65; Honorary Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1962; Woodrow Wilson Dissertation fellowship, 1965-66; Fulbright-Hays fellowship, 1965-66; Harvard Center for Middle East Studies Research fellowship, 1971-72; Edgar nomination for best first mystery, for Kicked to Death by a Camel; Guggenheim fellowship, 1975; Dexter Prize of the Society for the History of Technology, 1977, for The Camel and the Wheel; American-Indian Commission fellowship, 1990 (resigned).

WRITINGS:

FICTION

(Under pseudonym Clarence J.-L. Jackson) Kicked to Death by a Camel, Harper (New York, NY), 1973.

The Tomb of the Twelfth Imam, Harper (New York, NY), 1979.

The Gulf Scenario, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1984.

The Sufi Fiddle, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

NONFICTION

The Patricians of Nishapur, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1972.

The Camel and the Wheel, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1975.

Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1979.

Crisis in the Middle East, Grolier (Danbury, CT), 1992.

Islam: The View from the Edge, Columbia University Press, (New York, NY), 1993.

(Editor) Under Siege: Islam and Democracy, The Middle East Institute, Columbia University, (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor, with Reeva S. Simon and Philip Matta) Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Macmillan Reference USA (New York, NY), 1996.

(With others) The Earth and Its Peoples, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1997, 4th edition, 2007.

The Columbia History of the 20th Century, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor, with Martha Imber-Goldstein) The Bosnian Crisis and the Islamic Word, Middle East Institute, Columbia University (New York, NY), 2002.

The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization has been translated into French, Italian, Arabic, Greek, and Turkish.

OTHER

Contributor to books, including Islamic Civilization, 950-1150, edited by D.S. Richards, Bruno Cassirer (Oxford, England), 1973; Near Eastern Numismatics, Iconography, Epigraphy and History: Studies in Honor of George C. Miles, edited by D.K. Kouymjian, [Beirut], 1974; Conversion to Islam: A Comparative Study of Islamization, edited by N. Levtzion, Holmes and Meier (New York, NY), 1979; When Nomads Settle, edited by P.C. Salzman, Bergin (New York, NY), 1980; The Iran-Iraq War: Old Conflicts, New Weapons, edited by S. Tahir-Kheli and S. Ayubi, Praeger (New York, NY), 1980; Conversion and Continuity: Indigenous Christian Communities in Islamic Lands Eighth to Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Michael Gervers and Ramzi Jibran Bikhazi, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1990; and History of Humanity: Scientific and Cultural Development. Volume IV, From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century, edited by M.E. Bakhit and others, UNESCO and Routledge (London, England), 2000. Contributor of articles to scholarly journals, including Iranian Studies, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Studia Islamica, Diogenes, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Harvard International Review, and Middle East Journal. Also served as chief consultant on history of the fifth edition of the Columbia Encyclopedia; associate editor for Iran and Central Asia for the Encylcopedia of Asian History; and editor of the journal Iranian Studies, 1987-91.

SIDELIGHTS:

Richard W. Bulliet has studied and traveled extensively in the Middle East. He is also the author and editor of numerous books focusing on the area, as well as on other historic and social topics. In his book Islam: The View from the Edge, the author draws from previous lectures to discuss religious authority within the Islamic religion and how it has evolved. Writing in Booklist, Mary Deeley called the book "insightful and provocative." Andrej Kreutz commented in Arab Studies Quarterly that Islam "is … elegantly written." Kreutz also noted: "One of the most valuable aspects of this essay is its stress on both the unique historical contribution of Western civilization and its shared inheritance with Islam."

Bulliet is coeditor with Reeva S. Simon and Philip Mattar of Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, which presents nearly 4,000 entries containing modern information on the region dating from 1798. Cathlyn Mariscotti, writing in History: Review of New Books, commented that the book provides much updated information on the religion of Islam, as well as other topics such as the region's geography, military history, and languages. Mariscotti called the book "a handy resource that allows for easy access to information on a region that often seems inaccessible to the nonspecialist." Charles D. Smith wrote in the Journal of the American Oriental Society: "This is a highly ambitious project, seeking to cover events, important personalities, religious and secular politics, and to integrate these items with ‘the historical and cultural development of the Middle East.’" Smith added: "The entries are well written and there is extensive coverage."

As editor of The Columbia History of the 20th Century, Bulliet includes twenty-four essays that present a view of history that differs from most history books in that the essays focus primarily on common people and everyday life rather than history makers and historical events. "Culture, religion, gender, race, and athletics get their due, as do money, industry, war, and diplomacy," wrote G. John Ikenberry in Foreign Affairs. Richard W. Byrd noted in the Historian: "The essays are well-written and thought-provoking." Byrd added that "this work provides a basis for restoring to view the larger picture of the sweep of history." In a review in the Library Journal, Stephen W. Green noted that the book addresses "many of the key areas that have fundamentally altered human existence forever."

The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization focuses on Islam and Muslims and the common roots between Christianity and Islam. The author also examines how Western governments often react too quickly and negatively to Islamic issues and the relationship between Islam and Middle East governments. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the book "a quick, informative, and encouraging read." Steve Young, writing in the Library Journal, referred to The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization as a "clearly written book, aimed at the general reader." In a review in Foreign Affairs, L. Carl Brown commented: "This little book offers a rich lode of penetrating insights." Middle East Policy contributor Mustafa Malik noted the author's "refreshing insights into Muslim societies." Malik also wrote: "The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization is an insightful analysis of what ails Islamic civilization, what makes it tick, and how Americans could handle it for their own good and that of the Muslim world."

In Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships, the author writes about the intimate dynamic between humans and animals and presents his theory that this relationship is at a new turning point and that future generations will look back negatively on our current understanding, philosophy, and treatment of animals. Carol Haggas, writing in Booklist, called the book "a precisely researched, logically presented, and candidly intriguing apologia for humankind's inconsistent relationship with animals." A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that the author "offers a heady but highly readable mix of anthropology, archeology, zoology, environmentalism and philosophy."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Potter, Lawrence G., and Jean-Marc Ran Oppenheim, editors, Views from the Edge: Essays in Honor of Richard W. Bulliet, Columbia University Press for the Middle East Institute, Columbia University (New York, NY), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Arab Studies Quarterly, fall, 1997, Andrej Kreutz, review of Islam: The View from the Edge, p. 187.

Booklist, March 15, 1994, Mary Deeley, review of Islam, p. 1305; October 1, 2005, Carol Haggas, review of Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers: The Past and Future of Human-Animal Relationships, p. 6.

Foreign Affairs, November, 1998, G. John Ikenberry, review of The Columbia History of the 20th Century, p. 145; March-April, 2005, L. Carl Brown, review of The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, p. 167.

Historian, spring, 2000, Richard W. Byrd, review of The Columbia History of the 20th Century, p. 704.

History: Review of New Books, summer, 1997, Cathlyn Mariscotti, review of Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, p. 178.

Journal of the American Oriental Society, January-March, 1998, Charles D. Smith, review of Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, p. 118.

Library Journal, June 15, 1998, Stephen W. Green, review of The Columbia History of the 20th Century, p. 90; September 1, 2004, Steve Young, review of The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, p. 167.

Middle East Journal, autumn, 2005, Natasha Hall, review of Views From the Edge, p. 704.

Middle East Policy, winter, 2004, Mustafa Malik, review of The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, p. 150.

Middle East Quarterly, spring, 2006, Robert Spencer, review of The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, p. 75.

Publishers Weekly, July 26, 2004, review of The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization, p. 52; August 1, 2005, review of Hunters, Herders, and Hamburgers, p. 55.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2006, review of The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History.